I read this article in the NY Times a few days ago – written by a mama of a child with autism. It really struck a cord with me as a special education teacher, but also as someone who is a little unclear about my own future.

With Ankur in his second year of medical school, our lives are going to be pretty mobile for a long time. We move next year. And then we move the year after that. And then we move the following year.

It’s hard to lay down roots when you know you’re going to up and move pretty quickly after you get there.

Take note: this is not me complaining about our life.

In fact, this is the ONLY time I’ve lived outside of California in my entire 30 years of existence. So, if anything, I’m grateful to be going through this experience. And to be doing it with someone I genuinely love with all my insides.

But, you’ve gotta admit that it’s really hard to BUILD a career and a community when you’re hopping around all over the place. So, when I was reading these mama’s words when she was talking about creating a vision statement for her son’s future, part of me started thinking about my own future.

This child was able to successfully articulate what he wanted his future to look like by being fully aware and cognizant of what makes him in happy in the now. His mama writes, “…success won’t be measured by academic performance or job placement. It will have more to do with accumulating small pleasures and filling your life with those. I don’t know why it never occurred to me: Your future should look like the best parts of your present.”

In a world where we scroll through Pinterest and Instagram so often and are flooded with images and captions that say, “Do more of what makes you happy” or “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in you life,” we really aren’t fulfilling all of those ideas that we project.

There’s something about “being a grown up” that completely wipes out these simple concepts from our brain.

Do what makes you happy.

Okay…but…

I need to get a job so I have health insurance.

Do what makes you happy. 

Okay…but…

I need a consistent paycheck so I can pay rent each month.

Do what makes you happy. 

Okay…but…

I’m trying to support my husband while he pursues his dream so I volunteered to put my dream on hold.

Being a responsible adult sucks sometimes. 

But this child has helped me view things from a different perspective. I can’t wait until all circumstances are perfect before I start working toward a happy career. I may not be in the classroom right now, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have to do the things that make my heart feel full and content.

Instead, I can start paying attention to the things that make my heart explode with happiness and find ways to incorporate them in my day-to-day life. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not the content that drew me to teaching. It was always the love. Building relationships and connecting with others has always been my strength and has always been the thing that brings me the most joy.

And I don’t have to be in a classroom to fulfill that need.

I just have to find ways to find the best parts of my NOW and figure out how to make it work with my current situation.

So, I’m working on it.

But, for now, I’ve started this happiness project at our office.

Remember the shout-outs I did two years ago at RBM?

Well, they’re essentially the same concept.

I send a short e-mail to the faculty/staff sharing a feel-good story. Something I observed that week or overheard in the hallway. At the end of the story, I include a link to a Google Form so people can fill out their own shout-outs. They simply answer two questions: 1) Who are you shouting out and 2) Why?

Their shout-outs are then printed, stapled to a piece of candy or snack, and then delivered to the recipient’s office/classroom throughout the week.

It’s only been two weeks of shout-outs but I already feel so much happier and way less frustrated about work.

For one, it forces me to pay attention to the good things happening and the good people around me. But, also, it’s so much fun to see that once a round of shout-outs has been delivered, the number of shout-outs submitted goes up almost immediately.

It’s just proof that when you RECEIVE love, you have more love to GIVE.

So, to summarize, I just really love love.

It makes my days so much happier.

And all it took was a little awareness. I found something that brought me so much pleasure in my old environment. And I filled my new one with just that.

The love.

 

Questions of the Day:

• Are you doing what you love career-wise?

• What ways do you bring happiness (and spread happiness!) in to your day-to-day life?